For late May I'm planning a trip of 4-5 days to the Czech Republic. I want to stay one night in Brno and 3 nights in Olomouc. I've booked a guided tour for the Villa Tugendhat and would also like to visit the other WHS in that hotspot.
But I'm unsure about the many castles. Thus my question is: where is the interior worth a visit?
Castles and palaces are not my preferred type of WHS and I don't want to spend too much time with guided tours of their interior. There are so many of them in the area: Lednice, Valtice, Litomysl, Kromeriz, Telc.

And of course, recommendations for restaurants, bars, cafès are welcome.

In Brno I would recommend the new museum of Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics. It´s an interesting museum and there is also famous brewery nearby.
I´m not the type of castles too so although I´ve been to Lednice and Telc I didn´t visit their castles and still enjoyed my visit.

If I'm being honest none of the castle interiors are really 'must sees'. There is a nice ballroom at Kromeriz, and apparently the theatre at Litomysl is nice, but if yo9u don't see any interiors you will not be missing out.

From Olomouc, Kromeriz is pretty easy to get to, about 40 minutes. It is pleasant, but the flower gardens are the highlight, so you can skip the castle interior if you want to.

There don't seem to be direct buses Olomouc- Litomysl anymore. I really liked it, but I just had a slow lazy day there in excellent weather. I think it is perhaps a little bit of a hassle so I would skip it unless you really want to see it.

Telc is lovely, and the castle is just a small part of the site, the best thing about it is the view of the main square from the tower. However again it can be a tough place to get to by public transport, especially from Olomouc.

I will take a stab at you heading up from Vienna, as such Lednice-Valtice is on the way to Brno, change at Breclav. If you can hire a bike it will be a lovely place to cycle around. I completely skipped the castle interiors, but the Czech wine institute in Valtice was a pleasant place to visit.

Will come back with innumerable recommendations on eating and drinking in Olomouc, though as much as I love the place 3 nights may be quite a lot, as there is now no direct link to Litomysl, but could make sense depending on you plans.

Not sure if you have encountered the IDOS website yet, but it is great for working out public transport in Czech Republic.

Thanks meltwaterfalls, you confirm the ideas I got from my internet search and the reviews on this website. So we will probably skip the guided tours of the castles.

We will start from Vienna, where we meet friends who join us. I would prefer to use public transport, but our friends are enthusiastic motorists, so probably be we will drive by car. And that there is no direct bus to Litomysl, is an additional point for the car.

Lednice / Valtice and Telc are on our list, they seem to be the most rewarding sites in the area.

I am also thinking of a detour to Luhacovice, it's on the T-List and is among the spas that are planning a serial nomination.

And Assif, thanks for the recommendation of the Mendel museum. That's interesting, I surely would have missed it.

If you have your own car then I think perhaps spending a night in Telc may be a good idea, lots of the pretty gabbled houses on the main square let out rooms, and I think it would add to teh experience to stay for a night and relax there a bit.

If you are driving to Telc then you pretty much have to go through Trebic, which is worth a stop, even if it is not really the greatest WHS.

Like wise depending on your onwards route, the Pilgrimage Church at Zelena Hora (just outside Zdar-nad-Sazavou) is really worth a 30 minute stop to see it.

But as ever it is a bit of a balancing act between ticking off World Heritage sites and keeping everyone happy, but they are worthwhile sites to see and don't take up masses of time.

I can second the recommendation on the Mendel museum, I think it has had a recent re-vamp as well.

Right for places in Olomouc I can recommend these:
Restaurants:
U andel 'At the angel' was always my favourite place to eat. located in the charming backstreets between the city walls and squares (just go for an aimless wander in this small part of town, it is extremely pleasant).

Formerly known as Pod Limpou - This was my other favourite, it has recently changed it's name but I can't find what it is now called. It is in cellars underneath Dolni namesti it is a few doors along from Hanacka Hospoda closer to the Town Hall (perhaps through the double doors here?), really lovely beer cellar kind of place, sorry I can't remember the new name. By May it may have a terrace on the squarer to tempt you in as well.

Hanacka Hospoda on Dolni namesti, it is a little bit twee with waitresses in folk costume, but the food has always been great there (especially Svickova beef in cream sauce with cranberries), you used to be able to tap your own beer in the downstairs section. The menu also used to be great fun in its own right with little jokes and amusing backstories to dishes, Mozart once stayed in the house as well.

Ceasar: The first place I ever ate in Olomouc, great location in the town hall, pretty standard Italian fare but open late.

Cafe Mahler opposite Caesar is rather nice, but as you are coming from Austria it may disappoint as it is essentially a small town version of a Viennese cafe.

The cafe next to the tram stop in the Prior supermarket does good espresso, and also if you go inside the ugly behemoth you can get a feel for the Socialist Style shopping experience.

There is also a great looking restaurant in Vila Primavesi, I have never eaten there but the building is lovely.

Bars
By late May there are normally beer terraces out on most public spaces, the one at Cafe Caesar is great as you can sit back and enjoy the Trinity column, town hall and astronomical clock.

If you want to join local students, head for Veritgo, it was a dark friendly welcoming and exceedingly smokey den when I studied there and it still is now. I even got invited for a table football tournament when I re-visited in January.

Olomouc now has two brew pubs. Moritiz was may favourite. Though Svatovaclavsky pivovar was also great and located in the University area.

...and don't tell me you have never wanted to drink in a rusting Cold War era Tupalov jet parked next to a football stadium! Well if you pluck up the courage and stay out late (it opens at around 11/12pm) then you can do just that. It is a pretty unique if not especially great bar, if you are in the mood for something a little different and a story to tell friends then I can thoroughly recommend it, but as a bar it is pretty shoddy.

I will stop myself at that for the moment, I could go on and on.

But I hope you enjoy it, Olomouc may not be an awe striking city, but it has real charm and hopefully it can start to seep in within a short trip. And if you get chance have a walk though Bezarucovy Sady and admire the walls with the university up above.

Thanks a lot for the recommendations, meltwaterfalls. Now we are well prepared for our trip, I think. At least we will find enough to eat and drink. I'll give you a feedback as soon as I'm back.

Now I'm back from my short trip to the Czech Republic. Olomouc is a really nice place, we stayed two nights there. It was the perfect starting point to visit the WHS in this hotspot. We have tried out most of the restaurants and bars that you recommended, meltwaterfalls (and a few more, I'm afraid). Many thanks for that. Otherwise, we would not have stumbled upon such places like U andela or Moritz brewery. Of course, we also went to the bar in the Tupolev jet, but it was closed that day, although we could not figure out why.
And we also stayed overnight in Telc, in a house at the market square. It is really a charming place, and was one of the highlights of our trip.
We also enjoyed the Lednice-Valtice landscape and, at least for me, Villa Tugendhat was the distinct highlight of the trip.
Thanks also to Assif, the Mendel Museum is worth seeing, the presentations are very well done.

So happy you had a good trip. Yeah the Tupalev bar is a law unto itself. I lived there for 6 months and many visits were curtailed by it not being accessible for some reason, it was only on my 5th revisit that I finally got in.

Glad you found U andela, an old favourite of mine, and Moritz is a great new addition.

Telc is a lovely little place and I think staying makes it much nicer, and as a big fan of Mies I am happy you enjoyed the villa.